Case Spotlight

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has been called the law firm for black America. Once run by Thurgood Marshall, the group played a major role in desegregating public schools and fighting restrictions at the ballot box.

Now, the Legal Defense Fund is preparing for a new leader — just as the Supreme Court considers cases that could pare back on those gains.

What does it mean to fight for civil rights when the nation's first black president has been re-elected and his attorney general is African-American, too? That's the challenge for Sherrilyn Ifill, a law professor at the University of Maryland. Next month,she's set to become the next leader of the Legal Defense Fund.